A tourist caught up in the mid-air holiday jet scare today told of the moment their plane was hit by a lightning bolt.

A tourist caught up in the mid-air holiday jet scare today told of the moment their plane was hit by a lightning bolt.

The MY Travel A320 was carrying 180 passengers from Newcastle Airport to the Algarve in Portugal when it was struck. Flight MYT897 was just 10 minutes into the two-and-a-half hour journey when the near-disaster happened and two pinhead-sized holes were punched into the plane.

From her holiday hotel in Portugal today, tourist Maria Humphreys, 45, told of the moment she saw lightning hit the plane during the fierce storm on Sunday.

Maria, from South Shields, South Tyneside, said: "We started off from Newcastle at about 4.30pm it had just started to rain and we went through some clouds.

"I was sitting near the window. I looked out and saw lightning hit the engine on the left side and it bounced off. There was such a jolt.

"I didn't realise it was lightning at first. I thought something had happened to the plane and was a little bit worried.

"Everybody got a shock at first but nobody was really panicking then. The pilot said we had either been hit or had a very close call.

"He said he was going to turn back and land at Newcastle to be safe. When we got off the plane it looked like bullet holes.

"Four fire engines were waiting at the airport with all their equipment and that is when people began to get panicky and worried about what had happened.

"There was no panic in the air. There had been a very sudden jolt and everyone thought `What was that'. It was when we landed that people got worried.

"The plane was full and there could have been nearly 200 people there. The children did not realise what was happening and people were disappointed that we had to turn back.

"But then people were sort of sympathetic and felt it was an act of God. The pilot, who was Canadian, was quite friendly and kept everybody informed about what was happening.

"He stopped anybody getting really panicky and was very matter-of-fact about what was happening. He was making conversation over the tannoy and people were reassured by it.

"All passengers were put up in a hotel at Silverlink, near Wallsend, and we flew out again on another plane yesterday morning.

"I think people were losing patience when we had to change planes and take off again. There was a lot of waiting before we left.

"I am here in Portugal with my partner, Paul McGibbon, and we are on a two-week holiday.

"I would not say the incident spoilt our holiday. We are looking forward to a nice break."

A spokeswoman for Newcastle Airport said: "The aircraft was struck by lightning so it requested permission to come back and land at Newcastle.

"It made a precautionary landing and landed safely. Emergency services were on standby as they always are in these cases.

"The passengers were taken to a hotel overnight. As I understand it the passengers were all fine."

The spokeswoman for MyTravel said the plane had been hit by "outrageous" weather conditions but it was equipped with special technology to cope with lightning, although such an occurrence was "pretty rare".

The aeroplane was turned around as a precautionary measure and was today back in service and had flown to Spain after being checked over by engineers.

She said when a plane is hit by lightning, passengers feel and bang and a jolt and see a flash but it is all very quick.

The plane's crew had immediately announced to passengers that the plane was struck by lightning and would be heading back but did not report any complaints of shock or adverse reaction to the incident.

Holidaymakers were heading for the sun on #500 package deals and eventually arrived in Portugal a day late after MyTravel drafted in another aircraft to take them.

Any passengers who had lost part of their holiday would be compensated, the spokeswoman added.